How to handle the use of AI is an issue the industry has been grappling with for quite some time. With Deezer, a music streaming service, estimating that 44% of the tracks uploaded to its servers are completely AI-generated, and major platforms like Apple Music now requiring a label for songs made with AI, companies and organizations seem to be developing a wide variety of approaches. The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is no different. In line with global AI music standards set by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), ARIA has announced that music entirely generated with AI would not be eligible for its charts, Stereogum reports.

​The association also noted that songs that use AI only as a supporting role will remain eligible. What exactly “supporting role” means is another thing ARIA clarified, listing “it is substantially human made” and “it raises no stream or chart manipulation concerns.” This new development will take effect in this week’s chart, dated August 31st, effective August 28th.

​ARIA also updated their Code of Practice, now outlining procedures for appealing potential barrings from the chart under the assumption of AI use.

​“The ARIA Charts will always remain a transparent measurement of the music Australia consumes, but a chart that rewards unlicensed AI output would undercut the very basis of the recorded music we exist to represent,” Annabelle Herd, ARIA’s CEO, said in a statement. “We have worked closely with IFPI and a number of international industry bodies to understand how to best implement these changes in a way that is both clear and future-facing.”

​She ended her statement with the following: “We call on all parties who have a role in deciding the music played and promoted to Australian audiences, particularly radio, to support human artistry and implement similar changes across their own codes.”